# Charles Lampkin

Charles Lampkin (March 17, 1913 – April 17, 1989) was an American actor, musician and lecturer.

## Early life

Charles Lampkin was born in Ward 4 of Montgomery, Alabama. He was the third son of Edgar Lampkin and Sarah Bidell. His paternal lineage is traced to British slave-owners and his maternal ancestors were Africans enslaved in the British colonies of Virginia and Georgia before the American Revolution of 1776. His great-grandmother Ann Lampkin, an emancipated slave, was one of the first people to befriend a twenty-five-year-old Booker T. Washington when he arrived in Alabama in 1881. She secured land and along with her church sisters raised funds for the Tuskegee Institute. Edgar Lampkin moved his family from Montgomery to Cleveland in the 1920s, part of the Great Migration.

## Career

Lampkin was a pioneer of Spoken Word in the 1930s and winner of Ohio debating cups in 1939, 1940 and 1941. In Arch Oboler's Five, the first science fiction film about a nuclear holocaust, Lampkin introduced Oboler to The Creation by James Weldon Johnson and convinced him to include excerpts of it in the script of Five. It would become Lampkin's soliloquy and may be the first time that wide audiences in the United States, Latin America and Europe were exposed to African-American poetry, albeit not identified as such.
Charles Lampkin served as Music Director of the American Peoples' Chorus from 1943 to 1945. On June 26, 1944, he conducted Paul Robeson and the APC at the historic Negro Freedom Rally at Madison Square Garden. Uta Hagen and Cardinal Spellman were in attendance.
He composed a piano concerto in G minor before 1955 and in 1969 was appointed Artist-in-residence, Professor of Music and Theatre Arts, at Santa Clara University until 1981.
He was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1979 for his performance in the ABC after-school special Home Run for Love, which aired on national television in the United States in October, 1978 and was re-broadcast in April, 1980.
In 1979 Lampkin played Professor Loman in Alex Haley's Roots: The Next Generations.
In the 1960s and 1970s Lampkin was a pioneer of multi-cultural pedagogy in California.

### Lecture-recitations

In his college classes, Charles Lampkin divided original African-American music into four parts: Spirituals, the Shout Song, the Work Song and the Blues.
Charles Lampkin's performances of the poetry of the Harlem Renaissance set to music he composed were recorded in 1957 for the National Association of English Teachers. The records were distributed to thousands of schools across the United States. The original recording are available at the Charles Lampkin Foundation web site.
The centerpiece of the Charles Lampkin lecture platform was the Black American classic (whose status he helped secure) The Creation from the imaginative sermon series of James Weldon Johnson's God's Trombones.

### Academia

In January 1969, Lampkin joined the College of Humanities faculty at the University of Santa Clara as an Artist-in-residence, teaching a course in Beginning Acting and another one in Ethnic Music (until his retirement in 1981). He was also a lecturer at the University of the Pacific (Black Studies Program).

## Charles Lampkin Foundation

In 2011, Charles Lampkin's grandson Daniel Bruno created the Charles Lampkin Foundation as a non-profit that aims to counter anti-Intellectualism and the degrading effects of contemporary culture via awareness of the Harlem Renaissance. The foundation produced a series of videos which utilize Charles Lampkin's 1957 narration combined with relevant historical figures. A two-hour documentary Dreams From My Grandfather combines a movie review of Arch Oboler's Five along with rare historical footage of World War II and the nuclear arms race. With a music score including Sibelius, Holst, Vaughn Williams, Mahler and Bing Crosby, Daniel Bruno's narration includes geopolitical analysis of Japan's motives for siding with the Axis powers and Roosevelt's foreknowledge of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Outstanding renditions of Negro spirituals by Paul Robeson are heard throughout and in a final twist of irony, the documentary closes with the 10,000 strong Osaka volunteer choir performing Beethoven's "Ode To Joy" in 2009.

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1951 | Five | Charles | Film |
| 1961 | Surfside 6 | Monsieur Servat | TV series |
| 1962 | Rider on a Dead Horse | Taylor | Film |
| 1962 | The Law and Mr. Jones | Headwaiter / Tom Redford / Hecktel, The Storyville Gang | TV series |
| 1962 | Saints and Sinners | Hayes / Mr. Howard | TV series |
| 1963 | Alcoa Premiere | Zimmy | TV series |
| 1963 | The Untouchables | Hal Temple | TV series |
| 1963 | Toys in the Attic | Gus, Handyman | Film, Uncredited |
| 1963 | Twilight of Honor | Mr. Simmons | Film, Uncredited |
| 1963 | Mr. Novak | Robert Desmond | TV series |
| 1963 | Dr. Kildare | Eddie, Custodian | TV series |
| 1964 | One Man's Way | Lafe | Film |
| 1965 | Please Don't Eat the Daisies | Mr. Briggs | TV series |
| 1962-1965 | Ben Casey | Sam | TV series |
| 1966 | The Rare Breed | Porter | Film, Uncredited |
| 1965-1966 | The Long, Hot Summer | Andrew | TV series |
| 1967 | Run for Your Life | Dr. Herbert Garrison | TV series |
| 1967 | Tarzan | Matumba | TV series |
| 1967 | Accidental Family | Charlie | TV series |
| 1967 | Cowboy in Africa | Dr. Merar | TV series |
| 1968 | The Wild Wild West | Clerk | TV series |
| 1968 | Journey to Shiloh | Edward | Film, Uncredited |
| 1968 | The Thomas Crown Affair | Elevator Operator | Film, Uncredited |
| 1968 | It Takes a Thief | Gardener / Professor Kilghi | TV series |
| 1968-1969 | Julia | Charley / Electrician | TV series |
| 1969 | The Outsider | Richard | TV series |
| 1969 | The Bold Ones: The Protectors | Councilman | TV series |
| 1969 | Marcus Welby, M.D. | Mr. Murtree | TV series |
| 1969 | Hello, Dolly! | Laborer | Film, Uncredited |
| 1968-1970 | Mayberry R.F.D. | Ralph Barton | TV series |
| 1970 | The Name of the Game | Rubano | TV series |
| 1970 | Watermelon Man | Dr. Catlin | Film |
| 1970 | Barefoot in the Park | | TV series |
| 1967-1970 | That Girl | Janitor / Mr. Hansen | TV series |
| 1969-1970 | The Bold Ones: The Lawyers | Barber / Ralph Miller | TV series |
| 1970 | The Most Deadly Game | Griggs | TV series |
| 1970 | Breakout | Cook | TV movie |
| 1970 | Ironside | Truck Driver | TV series |
| 1971 | Family Affair | Superintendent | TV series |
| 1971 | The Partridge Family | Heavy | TV series |
| 1971 | The Bill Cosby Show | Harold Morgan | TV series |
| 1971 | The Bold Ones: The Senator | Clerk | TV series |
| 1971 | The Interns | Judge Davidson | TV series |
| 1964-1971 | My Three Sons | Harry West / Herman / Mailman | TV series |
| 1972 | The Bold Ones: The New Doctors | Mailman | TV series |
| 1972 | Jigsaw | | TV movie |
| 1972 | The Man | Congressman Walding | Film |
| 1972 | Hammer | Big Sid | Film |
| 1972 | The Odd Couple | Brother Lowell | Film |
| 1972 | McMillan & Wife | Judge Clement Williams | TV series |
| 1972 | The Delphi Bureau | Jason Thomas | TV series |
| 1973 | Emergency! | Airport Employee | TV series |
| 1973 | The Streets of San Francisco | Benjy Hoskins | TV series |
| 1969-1973 | The F.B.I. | Hargroves / The Broker | TV series |
| 1973 | Love Story | Father | TV series |
| 1974 | The Black Godfather | Danny's Father | Film |
| 1974 | That's My Mama | Will Harrington | TV series |
| 1974 | Hurricane | Wyn Stokey | TV movie |
| 1974 | The Law | Judge Rathman - Melendez Trial | TV movie |
| 1974 | Panic on the 5:22 | George Lincoln | TV movie |
| 1974 | The Rookies | Sam Reese | TV series |
| 1971-1975 | Adam-12 | Henry Ward / Johnson / Myron Bradley | TV series |
| 1975 | Wide World Mystery | | TV series |
| 1975 | Cornbread, Earl and Me | Fred Jenkins | Film |
| 1976 | Special Delivery | Mailman | Film |
| 1976 | Gemini Man | Pop Kingston | TV series |
| 1977 | Islands in the Stream | Constable | Film |
| 1977 | Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years | Irvin McDuffie | TV movie |
| 1977 | The Sanford Arms | Walter Calvin | TV series |
| 1978 | The Incredible Hulk | Joe | TV series |
| 1978 | ABC Afterschool Specials | Davy Henderson | TV series |
| 1979 | Roots: The Next Generations | Loman | TV mini-series |
| 1979 | Friends | Tug Summerfield | TV series |
| 1980 | House Calls | | TV series |
| 1975-1980 | Barnaby Jones | Benny / Mort Rogers | TV series |
| 1981 | Quincy M.E. | Dr. Jamison | TV series |
| 1981 | S.O.B. | Butler | Film |
| 1981 | First Monday in October | Justice Josiah Clewes | Film |
| 1982 | Father Murphy | | TV series |
| 1982 | Too Close for Comfort | Mr. Christmas | TV series |
| 1983 | Second Thoughts | Judge Richards | Film |
| 1983 | Bare Essence | | TV series |
| 1984 | Last of the Great Survivors | Elroy | TV movie |
| 1984 | Scarecrow and Mrs. King | Mr. Feller | TV series |
| 1984 | The Jeffersons | Otis | TV series |
| 1984 | Highway to Heaven | Doc | TV series |
| 1984 | Ghost Warrior | Willie Walsh | Film |
| 1985 | Hunter | Judge | U.S. TV Series |
| 1985 | Street Hawk | Artie Shank | TV series |
| 1985 | Cocoon | Pops | Film |
| 1985 | Night Court | Grampa Robinson | TV series |
| 1986 | He's the Mayor | Ezra | TV series |
| 1987 | Webster | Sam | TV series |
| 1987 | 227 | Felix | TV series |
| 1987 | The Last Innocent Man | Judge Clement Autley | TV movie |
| 1987-1988 | Frank's Place | Tiger Shepin | TV series, (final appearance) |